Sports
Sports News in Boulder, Colorado Includes CU Buffs, Rockies, Nuggets, Bronkos, Avs, cycling, running, skiingand anything else sports that hits our sports desk. Send sports press releases to sports@BoulderChannel1.com To advertise please call 303-447-8531
Buff golfers moving up in tourney
Feb 7th
BUFF GOLFERS MOVE INTO 15tH AT AMER ARI INVITATIONAL
WAIKOLOA, Hawai’i — The University of Colorado men’s golf team improved two spots here Friday into 15th place as the first rounds of the 24th annual Amer Ari Hawaii-Hilo Invitational are now in the books.
No. 3 Oklahoma State remained atop the leaderboard, owning a 28-under par team score of 548; the Cowbuys extened their lead to two strokes, but with No. 60 Oregon moving from sixth into second with a 26-under 550. No. 13 Washington also moved into the top five, jumping from 10th into third (16-under 272 on the day for a 26-under 552), with No. 25 Southern California and No. 26 Auburn tied for fourth (553); No. 17 UCLA had the best round of the day (17-under 271) and is alone in sixth with a 554.
Colorado, No. 83 in the final Golfweek fall rankings, moved from 17th to 15th with a two-round score of 568, or 8-under par. The Buffaloes turned in their second best single round score of the season, a 7-under 281, bested only by a 13-under 275 they scored in the first round of the last fall tournament at Texas-El Paso.
CU at one point was 14-under par as a team and in 10th place a little over midway through Friday’s round, with 17 birdies and only three bogeys collectively through either 10 or 11 holes, depending on where the players were on the course. But in the shotgun format, where the Buffs started on Friday positioned them to close with many of the more challenging holes.
“This will probably be one of if not the toughest tournament this spring in college golf, and we have an opportunity to keep moving up with a good final round tomorrow,” CU head coach Roy Edwards said. “I think we’re ahead of where we normally would be, we’re doing well and we don’t seem to have a lot of rust. More than anything, it took us a while to get used to the Bermuda greens. We just have to keep seeing a little more success with each round and continue building on that.”
The always tough field here has 10 of the nation’s top 50 competing, including three in the top 10; seven of CU’s Pac-12 rivals are among the group.
Jeremy Paul led CU for the second straight round
Freshman Jeremy Paul recorded CU’s best round for the second straight day, turning in a 4-under par 68, as he improved to 7-under 137 for 36 holes which has him tied for 12th overall. His round included seven birdies and eight pars against three bogeys, and he closed strong with two of those birds coming in his last four holes, including his final hole of the day (No. 12). He has an eagle, nine birdies and 22 pars through two rounds, with just four holes worse than par (all bogeys).
“Today was much better for sure, even though we played fairly similar to how we did on Thursday, we just made more putts,” Edwards said. “Jeremy played another solid round, though he really played better than he scored; he gave away a couple of shots on the par-5s. He usually plays those a few strokes under par and today he was even.”
Junior David Oraee also went sub-70 on Friday, carding a 3-under 69, scoring four birdies and 13 pars against a single bogey; he is in at even-par 144 with one round remaining, as he is tied for 63rd individually. He birdied three straight holes (Nos. 18, 1 and 2) at one point and had all four of his on the day in a six-hole span.
Sophomore Philip Juel-Berg is also tied for 63rd after fashioning a 2-over par 74, giving him an even-par 144 through two rounds. He had 14 pars for the second straight day, flipping his birdie-to-bogey count from three-to-one to one-to-three. He was even through his first 10 holes, but bogeys Nos. 6 and 8 jumped him to 2-over, where he remained for his final five holes.
Freshman Andrew Bonner played more consistently in the second round as he turned in a 1-under 71 for an even-par 144, also tying him for 63rd. He had three birdies and 13 pars against two bogeys Friday, cutting down his holes over par for the round from five to just two. He birdied his second hole of the day (No. 17) and remained under par from that point on for the entire round.
Freshman Yannik Paul opened up on fire, and after five birdies within a seven-hole span, stood at 5-under through10 holes, but he cooled off and came back down to Earth, playing his last eight holes at six-over to finish with a 1-over 73. His 36-hole total of 148 has him tied for 99th,
Senior Johnny Hayes is competing here individually, meaning his score doesn’t count toward CU’s team total; he shot a 3-over 75 for the second straight round, with his 6-over 150 total tying him for 107th. For the second straight day, he had one birdie, 14 pars, two bogeys and a double, except on Friday, he was even-par with two holes to go and finished up bogey-double.
“David played really solid today, anything under 70 is a good round here,” Edwards said. “There are a lot of those (rounds in the 60s) here because of the quality of the field, but breaking 70 is a quality score. He wasn’t himself yesterday but came back and showed what kind of player he has been and is for us. Yannik was on fire early on, but then had a couple of loose swings on just the wrong holes. Had those been on some holes where you could hit it a bit off line, you could still come back and make par. He just had a couple of bad breaks after a terrific start.”
Stanford’s Cameron Wilson used a 7-under 65 to take over the individual lead, as he is with a 12-under 132; three players are one stroke behind him, as 17 players are within five shots of the lead, all at 7-under or better.
The third and final round of the tournament is Saturday, with a shotgun start set for at 10:30 a.m. mountain time.
BUFFALO INDIVIDUALS (*—competing individually)
T12. Jeremy Paul…………………………. 69-68—137
T63. Philip Juel-Berg…………………….. 70-74—144
T63. David Oraee…………………………. 75-69—144
T63. Andrew Bonner…………………….. 73-71—144
T99. Yannik Paul…………………………… 75-73—148
T107. *Johnny Hayes……………………… 75-75—150
TOP 5 INDIVIDUALS
1. Cameron Wilson, Stanford………… 67-65—132
T2. Thomas Lim, Oregon……………….. 64-69—133
T2. Lorens Chan, UCLA………………….. 68-65—133
T2. Jeffrey Kang, USC…………………… 66-67—133
T5. Rico Hoey, USC………………………. 65-69—134
T5. Chelso Barrett, TCU………………… 66-68—134
TEAM SCORES
1. Oklahoma State…………………. 271-277—548
2. Oregon…………………………….. 276-274—550
3. Washington………………………. 280-272—552
T4. Southern California……………… 273-280—553
T4. Auburn…………………………….. 274-279—553
6. UCLA……………………………….. 283-271—554
T7. Georgia Tech…………………….. 286-270—556
T7. TCU…………………………………. 272-284—556
T7. Texas………………………………. 274-282—556
T10. Arizona State…………………….. 280-277—557
T10. Stanford…………………………… 281-276—557
12. Texas Tech……………………….. 278-282—560
13. Hawai’i-Hilo……………………….. 279-286—565
14. Oregon State…………………….. 285-281—566
15. COLORADO……………………… 287-281—568
16. Hawai’i…………………………….. 279-291—570
17. San Jose State………………….. 290-287—577
18. UC-Davis………………………….. 290-289—579
19. Osaka Gakuin…………………….. 286-295—581
20. CSU-Monterey Bay…………….. 295-287—582
DAVID PLATI | ASSOCIATE AD/SPORTS INFORMATION
The Seahawks are swell. We all agree.
Feb 7th
It was all over, including the shouting.
The Seahawks’ magical 2013 season had come to its official end with a parade through more than 700,000 cheering fans and a championship celebration before 50,000 going-bonkers 12th Man fans at CenturyLink Field and 27,000 more at Safeco Field across the street. It was a sendoff befitting a Super Bowl champion, which the Seahawks became with their 43-8 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday night.
Before he left the stadium Wednesday, coach Pete Carroll held one more Q&A session with the media – in the same room where he had addressed them after each of the Seahawks’ 10 home games during the regular season and postseason.
Pete Carrol says never mind the past. We look to the future
But this one was different, because this season was different. For starters, it ended later than all but one of the Seahawks’ previous 37 seasons – with the exception being 2005, when the Seahawks lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super XL on Feb. 5, 2006.
So coach, are you behind already in the quest to not only defend, but extend, the Seahawks’ reign as Super Bowl champs?
“No,” Carroll said. “John (Schneider, the general manger) is all over it. So no, not at all.”
While the team was in New Jersey last week preparing for the Super Bowl, Schneider was meeting with his staff to prepare for the NFL Scouting Combine Feb. 19-25, the next big step for the May 8-10 NFL Draft; as well as the free agency period, which begins March 11.
As has been the case since Carroll and Schneider arrived in 2010, their first priority is retaining their own players who are scheduled to become free agents – a list that includes defensive lineman Michael Bennett, who led the team in sacks; and wide receiver Golden Tate, who led the team in receiving.
“We want this team together, we want to see if we can keep this team together,” Carroll said. “Every decision is difficult that we have to face. And guys that are at the end of their contracts, those are big issues for us. We love the guys; we love what they do and what they bring. And we’d like to keep it together as best we can.
“John will be faced with some really challenging discussions and things to get that done, but we’ll be very much in concert on it and what we want to get done and then we’ll go set about it one step at a time. And it’ll take us a good while, always with our eye on what’s going on with the draft and all that, and we’ll see if we put it together just right.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Players Celebrate 48
As for free agency, the Seahawks will be choosey, as they have been in the past, because they can afford to be after what Schneider and Carroll have done the past four offseasons.
“We have what we need,” Carroll said. “We just need to get back to work, when the time comes, with the right attitude and the right focus. That’s all I’m concerned about. We’ll have an opportunity to add some players to our team through the draft and all. We’ll take a good look at free agency.
“I don’t see anything that we need to add. We just need to get better.”
The players will be around Virginia Mason Athletic Center in the coming weeks and months, but the offseason program does not start until April 21.
“It seems like forever,” Carroll said. “I think we walk out of here totally arm in arm with the fact that we’re going to have a great offseason. That means that the guys have to be totally committed to having a great offseason, because they’re going to have a lot of distractions and a lot of people pulling them in different directions.”
Carroll addressed that during the final team meeting on Tuesday, when the players also cleaned out their lockers and took their exit physicals.
“Quite frankly, each guy’s got to set his plan in motion and not let the distractions get in the way of the hard work that it takes to put this thing back together again,” Carroll said.
“It’s an extraordinary opportunity, because it’s so difficult for teams to come back and play well after winning the Super Bowl. We take that challenge on now, nose to nose. We’re going to go after it and see what we can do about it.”
And Carroll doesn’t care for talk of a repeat – as no team has repeated as Super Bowl champion since the New England Patriots in 2003 and 2004, and they were the first to do it since the Broncos in 1997 and 1998. Or even the Super Bowl, for that matter. He’s all about improving each day, which allows you to improve each week, which allows you to improve each season.
“Let me say it even more specifically, it’s not about repeating to me,” he said. “That isn’t it. We’re trying to do something really good for a really long time. And we want to see how far we can go, and someday we can look back and see what we accomplished. In the middle of it, I don’t think it’s time to assess it.
PHOTO GALLERY: Fans Celebrate 48
“In this year, I never talked about the Super Bowl. I talked about trying to help these guys be the best they possibly can be.”
And in 2013, the Seahawks were the best in team in all of football.
New point-guard steers Buffs to win, barely
Feb 6th
Written By B.G. Brooks, CUBuffs.com Contributing Editor
BOULDER – The Colorado Buffaloes and junior guard Askia Booker opened the second half on the run and appeared ready to race past Washington State on Wednesday night. Not so fast, said the Cougars’ DaVonte Lacy.
The Buffs held on – far from tightly – for a 68-63 Pac-12 Conference win that was secured – but barely – at the foul line in the final 1:05. CU hit only 8 of 14 free throws during that span, but Booker’s 6 of 8 – including a pair with 2 seconds remaining – kept the Buffs afloat.
Xavier Talton is the new Buffalo point guard
“A win’s a win,” said CU coach Tad Boyle, “especially in conference play. But it was not pretty, especially at the end. Obviously we have to finish better and that puts a bit of a damper on this win.”
With Lacy hitting 21 of his game-high and career-high 34 points in the second half – including five of his eight 3-pointers – WSU cut a 19-point CU lead to three (66-63) before Booker’s final pair of foul shots.
“We had a 19-point lead and gave it up,” said Booker, whose 26 points Wednesday night was one off his career high. “We took it down to the last second. We can’t let it get to that point. It seemed like we didn’t have enough energy towards the end and we can’t do that Sunday because that team is a lot better and will come in and finish us off.”
“That team” is Washington, which defeated CU 71-54 in Seattle last month and visits the Coors Events Center Sunday at 6 p.m.
Booker scored 15 of his total as the Buffs (17-6, 6-4) increased a three-point halftime lead to 50-33 with 8:25 to play, then to 54-35 less than 2 minutes later. But Lacy, who didn’t play in CU’s 71-70 overtime win in Spokane on Jan. 8, and the Cougars (9-13, 2-8) roared back with their shooting behind the arc.
They attempted 15 treys in the second half, hitting nine of them (60 percent) and finishing 13-of-27 for the game (48.1 percent). The Cougars’ 13 made 3-pointers tied their total in the first meeting and Elon’s output for the most by a CU opponent this season.
Boyle said the Buffs defended Que Johnson well (he made 2 of 11 field goals and finished with eight points) but faltered on Lacy. “Not so much on him,” Boyle said. “When you’re eight for 13 on threes, that’s not good enough (defense).”
CU’s Xavier Johnson backed up Booker with 20 points – they were the only two Buffs in double figures – and Johnson’s nine rebounds and Wesley Gordon’s 10 picked up the slack for a sub-par Josh Scott. CU’s leading scorer (14.4 ppg) and rebounder (9.1 rpg) didn’t get his first point or board until the game’s final half minute.
“Ski” Booker scored 26 points in Buff win
“Give Washington State credit,” said Boyle, “their game plan was double him every time he touched the ball. They did and they were on him quickly.”
The Buffs improved their home record to 14-1 this season and 58-8 at the CEC under Boyle. The 14 ‘W’s this season tie for the fourth-most home wins in program history.
The Buffs led 23-20 at halftime, but it was a weird, disjointed journey to that meager advantage.
Neither team sizzled from the field in the first 20 minutes; CU shot 39 percent, WSU 40. At one point, the Buffs went 6:32 between field goals. And at 13-13, there wasn’t a first-half rebounding edge – forever a point of contention for Boyle. CU wound up winning the board battle 32-28 and shot 48.1 percent in the second to finish at 44 percent (22-of-50). The Buffs committed what Boyle called a “manageable” 12 turnovers while turning 17 Cougars errors into 14 points.
After the Cougars took a 7-6 lead, the Buffs appeared to take control with a 9-0 run that opened their largest margin of the half – 15-7.
Jaron Hopkins opened the run with a trey from the left corner and George King closed it with a short pull-up jumper. Then the Buffs went stagnant offensively, not getting their next field goal for just over 61/2 minutes.
For the first time in five games, Hopkins didn’t start. He was replaced by Xavier Talton, but the sophomore from Sterling picked up two quick fouls and went to the bench only 2:28 into his first career start.
While CU was muddling through its offense, WSU capitalized, mainly on the shooting of Lacy. The 6-4 junior brought the Cougars back by scoring eight of his 13 first-half points in the final 5:47.
The Buffs outscored the Cougars 11-3 to open the second half, with Booker going to the rim and getting 10 of those points. CU opened its first double-digit lead of the game – 34-23 – with 16:01 remaining.
“Coach just told me to be aggressive,” Booker said. “I had to pick and choose my spots . . . I got to the basket and got some easy buckets in transition.”
Three consecutive 3-pointers by Talton, Booker and Dustin Thomas opened a 50-33 lead 8 1/2 minutes to play, but the Cougars kept shooting treys and hitting them.
“Lacy got open way too many times,” Booker said. “It came down to a three-point game and whether it be one man or three people that’s hot on their team, we have to find a way to win the game. And thank God we made those free throws at the end to hold them off.
“But at the same time you can’t let an individual come in here, especially on the road, and let him take over and keep his team in the game.”
The Buffs have until Sunday to figure out how to do that. UW’s C.J. Wilcox scored 31 on the Buffs, hitting seven treys, in the meeting in Seattle.
